There was a time when auctions were promoted with the sort of watches that have the broadest possible appeal — Daytonas, Nautiluses and Royal Oaks — but prices have been cooling for all but the rarest of timepieces, making extremely low volume artisan independents the headline acts this season.
Bonhams Bond Street Fine Watches auction on December 14 is no exception, and has managed to secure a Series 2 ticker by Britain’s Roger W. Smith.
The 18ct gold manually wound watch, thought to have been made in 2011, is labeled as piece No.20C and is said to have been the 32nd Series 2 to be sold.
The Series 2 was the first of Roger Smith’s watches to be entirely made in-house; the Series 1 having been started by George Daniels.
In late 2011 Roger moved from a 38mm case to a 40mm case making this 1 of just 9 Series 2s that was housed in the early Phase 1 38mm case.
This watch is particularly special as it is believed to be the last of the Phase 1s to have been cased in yellow gold.
Since Roger formed the company in 2001, he has made 128 RW Smith watches with 68 of them being a Series 2.
The most recent Roger Smith to sell at auction was with A Collected Man, and a percentage of the proceeds were going to fund watchmaking apprenticeships in Britain. The Series 1 watch hammered for £660,000 ($800,000).
Bonhams has the 18ct gold Series 2 up for auction with an estimate of £200,000-300,000.